Championship leader Max Verstappen finished third, after his car suffered damage in an early collision with George Russell’s Mercedes. The race was neutralised early in lap two after Yuki Tsunoda clouted the wall at Turn 15, tearing his tyre off and damaging his rear suspension. When it restarted, Perez stalked Leclerc for two laps before easing past as soon as the DRS overtaking aid was enabled after two racing laps. Leclerc tried to stay within DRS range of Perez as long as he could, fearing an attack from Verstappen, whose car was damaged while fighting with Russell in a terrific side-by-side battle through the first three corners. The damage would have caused significant drag on the Red Bull and almost certainly explains why Verstappen was not able to catch and pass Leclerc.

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